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Greek Gods
The Greek and Roman gods are the descendants of the older Titans, their ancestors and chief enemies. There are currently twelve major gods, the Olympians, who rule over the universe, all of whom are under the rule of Zeus (or his Roman form Jupiter), god of the sky. There are many other minor gods who serve smaller but necessary purposes in the world. Despite their immense power, they are subject to divine laws, and, in theory, cannot break oaths sworn upon the River Styx. However, due to their immortal nature, breaking such oaths does not have severe consequences to them. The Beginning The six elder Greek gods and goddesses were Hestia, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus, because they were the sons and daughters of the two rulers of the Titans: Cronos and Rhea. Fearing his children would overthrow him in the same way he had done to his own father, Cronos devoured his first two sons and his three daughters after they where born. Hestia first, then Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, and Hera. He would have devoured Zeus as well, but Rhea, unable to bear the pain of losing another child and seeing her husband now for the monster he was, entered into an alliance with Gaea, smuggled her son away to safety, and gave her husband a rock instead to devour. After years in hiding, Zeus was finally old enough and strong enough to overthrow his father. He returned to his father's palace to free his siblings who, being immortals, remained alive and undigested within their father. Zeus freed his family by smuggling a potion into his father's meal, forcing him to vomit his children. Having freed his siblings, as well as the Hekatonkheires and the Cyclopes whom Cronos had re-imprisoned in Tartarus, Zeus led a rebellion against the Titans. In gratitude, the Cyclopes forged the Big Three's symbols of power: the Master Bolt, the Trident, and the Helm of Darkness, while the sheer strength of the Hekatonkheires proved to be a great advantage against the Titan army. The final blow was delivered when Zeus, using his father's own scythe, cut Cronos into a thousand pieces and dropped them in Tartarus where he would never rise again. This marked the end of the Titan age and started the Olympian age. The Olympians have been challenged many times for their control of the world, but they have always managed to stabilize their rule, often with the help of their children, the demigods. This is exemplified when the Giants rebelled against the gods, and Hercules, the son of Zeus, helped them vanquish the Giants. Zeus married his sister Hera, and subsequent children ― Ares and Hephaestus ― followed. From affairs, the other gods and goddesses were created. The only exception is Aphrodite, who was born when Cronus cut off Uranus's genitals and threw them into the sea, and she arose from the sea foam. Divine Form The gods in their natural, fully empowered form, are radiant with a divine light so intense that no being less than a god can look upon it without disintegrating to ashes. To interact with mortals and heroes, the gods take on a lesser form which can be safely observed. Gods can instantly call back this power any time they desire, and may even revert involuntarily to their Divine Form if experiencing intense emotions. According to Hephaestus, the only time a god’s full essence and power is ever in one place is when they are in their Divine Form. In their lesser forms generally the gods are flawless. They have eternal youth and the ability to control their physical age. They are all stunning and beautiful in their own right, though they can sustain irregularities from severe injury (Such as Hephaestus) General Abilities The gods are superhuman beings with a variety of magical powers, such as control of the weather and seas. In addition to their immortality, all gods draw most of their power from their sphere of control or domain, but they all share certain powers, and even abilities specific to their individual domains can sometimes overlap. A case in point is the one of Morpheus and Hypnos who both have control over dreams and sleep. Each of the Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), after overthrowing the Titans, took one of the three largest physical domains on Earth (the heavens, the ocean, and the Underworld respectively). This is why the Big Three are the most powerful and influential gods on Olympus. The gods possess a nearly limitless amount of magical control over their domain, as well as many general powers including levitation, teleportation, telepathy, physical abilities such as strength and stamina which surpasses those of mortals, and manipulating the elements among other vast amounts of control over the world. The limits of a god's power in this regard is unknown, as is to what extent they can cross into the domain of another. Since their true, Divine Form is far too powerful to be looked upon by mortals or demigods, all gods can into any form that they desire- even animals, as stated by the myths. However, gods are not all-powerful. They can tire or be overpowered by immortals and even powerful demigods. If they choose to engage in physical battle they can be injured through the proper weaponry. The gods can appear in multiple places at once, so long as their domain is being invoked. The gods consume a divine food and drink called nectar and ambrosia. It is too powerful for mortals to eat under normal circumstances as they will literally burst into flames, yet in some myths the gods have used nectar and ambrosia to bestow immortality upon a mortal, though its more likely that the nectar and ambrosia is specially prepared for a mortal. Demigods, however, can consume small amounts of both in order to regain strength and heal wounds, though too much will make them ill or destroy them in the same way it would a mortal. The gods also adapt to their host country's culture when they move with Western Civilization, and if they stay long enough it can become a permanent part of their aspects. The gods are also able to speak multiple languages. For example, Aphrodite can speak French, as it is the language of love and she is the goddess of love and beauty. Roman Counterpart As they follow the flow of Western Civilization, the gods will change slightly to reflect the culture of the country they currently reside in. Normally, this change has only a small effect and is not permanent. Such changes include Zeus wearing designer suits and Apollo's chariot becoming a sports car. However, the gods have resided in Rome almost as long as they ruled from Greece, and therefore each god has a Roman aspect to themselves that they can change into. In this form, the gods became more disciplined, warlike, and militaristic ― the characteristics associated with the ancient Roman Empire. As Roman gods, they rarely interacted with mortals or had affairs with them. When they did, however, these relationships produced Roman demigods who knew of their godly parent only by their Roman name, spoke Latin, and possessed a disciplined, ferocious and orderly quality not present in the Greek demigods at what was once Camp Half-Blood, now is the Alpha Project at Grissom Academy. These Roman demigod children were once sent to be trained by Lupa at The Wolf House, somewhere near San Francisco, but after the unification, they all train together at Grissom Academy Divine Laws Despite their primal powers and divine authority, gods are bound by certain laws. Some of these rules are laid down by Zeus and others are just in the nature of being a god. Only a few of these rules have been explored. *No god can directly steal the symbol of power of another. This applies to both the Titans and Olympians. Mortals and demigods are free from this rule. *No god can enter the domain of another unless invited by the lord/lady of said domain (unless their domain overlaps). The only known gods to freely travel the worlds are Hermes and Iris, both of which are the messenger deities. Hecate, in some cases, is said to be honored and allowed to freely travel in all of the three major domains for her help in the First Titan War. *It is stated by Apollo that immortals can only fight demigods after being challenged or attacked first (however, the Titans have been shown to ignore this rule). It is likely though, that this rule is not compulsory. *Gods are limited to how much they can interfere in mortal affairs. This rule is a decree of Zeus. It also depends on how much Zeus enforces it or knows about it. Some gods have violated this rule without incurring any punishment, such as Apollo with Eliott and Daisy. *The Big Three were banned from having children after World War II as any one of their children would be responsible for a Great Prophecy, but has since been removed since the early 2010's. Weaknesses The gods do possess some weaknesses, physical or otherwise. They can be injured by supernatural weapons, but are invulnerable to conventional physical attacks. If a god's domain is attacked, he/she may weaken, age, and take the form to represent their current state of said domain. Gods can also fade from existence — either from a lack of worship or the diminishing of their domain. A god can survive lack of worship or loss of their domain so long as their will to live is strong enough. Otherwise, they will fade, However even if they're will is strong enough they won't be powerful enough to maintain physical form, as Cronos was able to survive, due to sheer willpower, yet remain powerless in Tartarus. If their thrones (or other sources of power) are destroyed, they will also fade along with it or become so weakened that they can no longer take a physical form. The gods are, in general lustful — with the exceptions of the maiden goddesses and wives such as Hera, Amphitrite and Persephone — and often have many illegitimate children, both immortal and demigod. Most gods also tend to be petty or immature. Because the gods are immortal, they feel little reason to change or adapt (except to adapt to their current home) as a result they often lack maturity or sense of personal growth, often resulting in many broken promises. In addition, the gods can be very prideful of the things they do or the choices they make. They are often too proud to admit when they need help or when they have committed mistakes, instead believing themselves to be beyond help from regular mortals and demigods. Gods generally believe that they should be feared and respected. Due to their pride, they see admitting they need help as a sign of weakness. Furthermore, the gods will show signs of contempt towards the children of their enemies, sometimes even if those children are the offspring of other gods, most likely since Divine Laws prevent gods from attacking each other directly and thus do fight through their demigod offspring. It is these traits that often cause many beings, both mortal and immortal alike, to hate the gods and the reason why the gods are occasionally viewed as being no better than the Titans. If a god or goddess is magically bounded or trapped in a magical prison of some kind, his or her power is useless, as the magical bindings act as a anchor keeping them in place, akin to a bear caught in a trap. An example of this is when Hephastaus trapped Aphrodite and Ares together in a magic net as Aphrodite had cheated on her husband. Category:Characters/Immortals